It is not surprising that many people find it thoroughly irritating to read headlines about oil companies, such as Shell and BP, making bumper profits thanks to high oil prices while consumers pay ever more to heat their homes.

With crude oil prices having fallen to around $70 dollars from more than $147 in July even Chancellor Darling felt compelled today to say the recent drop should be passed on swiftly to the consumer,

That’s a noble sentiment but are governments really able to tell corporate giants what to do? Whispers of windfall taxes have come and gone but the government didn’t even introduce one on the utilities.

Restricting companies in a way that could eat into their profits might not be a good idea anyway as some of them account for a large share of the dividends paid to UK pension funds by FTSE 100 companies - a whopping 10 percent in the case of BP, for example.

Moreover, some economists argue that measures such as windfall taxes are a short-termist solution to a permanent problem and thus don’t work.

What do you think? Is it time for the government to stop talking and show some muscle?

A union leader has called for a windfall tax on oil companies after BP reported a big rise in profits.

Supporters say this “Robin Hood” tactic would help hard-pressed households struggling to meet eye-watering energy and petrol bills.

Critics, however, have variously described the idea as “economically illiterate”, “legalised piracy” and “just plain daft”.

Unite General Secretary Tony Woodley said: “It is high time our government moved to stop the fuel corporates picking the pockets of the poor and needy.”

That would be grossly unfair, say the energy firms. Chief executives say they already pay huge amounts of tax and they should not be penalised just because global oil prices have been rising.

The Association of Electricity Producers said a windfall tax would “send out a dreadful signal” to investors.

“Windfall taxes are not a measure that should be associated with a G8 country,” it said.

Professor Dieter Helm, of Oxford University, argues that windfall taxes are economically illiterate and would not solve underlying problems in the energy markets.

“This is a permanent problem, and cannot be solved by a one-off measure,” he wrote.

Would you support a windfall tax on energy companies? Or do you think it would damage Britain’s economy?